24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual: Rebellion Williams takes lead, Verstappen crashes

The #1 Rebellion Williams has taken the lead of the 24 Hours of Le Mans Virtual after Max Verstappen crashed his Team Redline Oreca while fighting for the lead.

The #16 Veloce Esports 2 car was leading at the eighth hour, but Verstappen made a move for the lead 10 minutes later, and looked to be in total control.

While Verstappen managed to create a gap at the front, Eammon Muprhy went off the circuit in the #16 Veloce car, handing second place to the #13 Rebellion Williams of Jack Aitken, but it was his team-mate, Marciello in the #1 car that made the biggest impression.

Marciello managed to pass Oliver Rowland for third just under eight and a half hours into the race, and he quickly closed the gap to Aitken, passing him nearly ten minutes later.

His pace was so strong that he reduced the gap to Verstappen, which was over 10 seconds at that point, down to 1 second within 40 minutes, and he secured the lead for the race when the Dutch F1 driver went off the track at Arnage, after it appeared he suffered a glitch.

The loss of the lead immediately got worse for the #20 car when Verstappen immediately crashed again when going through the Porsche curves, and the damage sustained meant he was forced to pit.

Although he only lost two minutes, Verstappen still rejoined down in 13th and now faces a tall order to get back into the fight for the lead.

Oliver Rowland took advantage of #20 car’s misfortune and is up to second in the #33 2 Seas Motorsport, while Jack Aitken is 10 seconds further back in fourth.

the #4 ByKolles is running in fourth, while Jean-Eric Vergne rounds out the top five in his #24 Veloce Esports 1.

Porsche are dominating the GTE class, maintaining a clear 1-2-3, with the #93 car leading the #92 Porsche by 59s.

Antonio Giovinazzi took over the reigns of the #52 Ferrari AF Corse and was running in fourth, but he stopped out on the circuit, losing 24 minutes and is now running last in the GTE class.